Review: Finally Fallen by Z. Allora

Title: Finally Fallen (The Dark Angels: Book Three)

Author: Z. Allora

Pages/Word Count: 267 Pages

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb: What’s the use of being a rock legend if you have no one to share the fame and fortune with? Not that Dusty Davis is looking. He’s content taking care of himself, his bandmates, and his rambunctious younger brothers.

And while the rest of The Dark Angels are happily paired with men, Dusty can’t be gay. A night in a club brings him face to face with the woman of his dreams. J is articulate, well-read, witty, and smart. How could Dusty not finally fall?

J didn’t mean to deceive Dusty; he introduced himself as Justin, after all. He didn’t realize the drummer heard, “Justine” and missed the other cues. Dusty’s declarations of love sounded too good to be true. After all, who could possibly want someone as broken as Justin?

But the heart wants what the heart wants, and love knows no gender.

Review: Three books into The Dark Angels series, and I can say without any doubt at all that they have become some of my favorite guilty pleasure reads. Z. Allora has created characters who are funny and flirty and sexy. These boys love to get a little down and dirty, but that doesn’t mean the books are all fluff and no substance. Her gorgeous rockers are working out how to fall in love and to cope with some of the pain and confusion that life has thrown at them. They live in conflict, from owning their sexuality to dealing with homophobia to overcoming fear to, in the case of Dusty and Justin, overcoming a brutal violation against Justin that has left him emotionally and psychologically scarred. The internal struggles her boys face give dimension to their relationships and add an extra layer of emotion to their playful sensuality.

The aftermath of Justin’s attack informs his life in so many ways. He suffers from post traumatic episodes that are triggered when he feels confined, and one of the ways he’s learning to cope with the memories that consume and overwhelm him at times is through Justine, his alter-ego and the pen name he uses to write his FanFic. When Justin meets Dusty, dressed as Justine, the sparks fly instantly between them, which sets Dusty up for a major shock when he realizes the woman he’s fallen in love with isn’t a woman at all.

Dusty and Justin work. That’s really their relationship in its simplest form. They work for and against each other—their love for each other not in question, but their struggles are plenty. Dusty’s confusion over his sexuality, his feelings for Justin, and his need to figure himself out is who Dusty is—he leaves no question unanswered, and I learned a thing or two while reading Finally Fallen. The far heavier issue, however, is his sexual relationship with Justin—Justin’s fear of not being in control as both he and Dusty agonize over fully consummating their relationship and Justin struggles with what’s “normal”. While they each had their own issues to deal with, they also worked to help each other overcome some major hurdles, and the final solution to the last obstacle was not only valid but a believable resolution to the problem.

Dealing with Dusty’s family drama, on top of trying to work on his romance with Justin, has set up a storyline I’m looking forward to between their brothers, Zack and Andrew, that, based on what I’ve read so far in this series, promises to be just as naughty and nice. And uber-sexy. Can’t forget that, not that Z. Allora will let us, because she’s an author who loves her Pretties and just wants them all to have sexy happy endings.